A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way.
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| Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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Friday, April 16, 2004 Reality SchmalityLast night was the season finale of the widely touted show The Apprentice. This of course is yet another installment in the wide ranging American pop culture bug of "reality television" where we, the homebound audience, get to peer into the purported real lives of real people. Being a youth of the 1990s I am familiar with the harbinger of the reality television which graced our cable lines in the form of The Real World on MTV. Reality television has since evolved and merged with other pop culture facets to give us our current batch of reprobate, sexually charged, mind-numbing entertainment sources. Of course nothing is surprising when it comes to the types of material our media inundates our culture with these days. Reality television is a unique invention of the media moguls. I find it compelling commentary on the state of Americana that people would wish to watch this programming day in and day out for months. It is that many people wish to escape the reality of their lives that some watch. Viewing the exploits and foolish antics of some on these shows is a wonderful escape mechanism. Other are promulgated in their viewing for the almost voyeurist opportunity available in these shows. Yet for many it is the simple chance to see people occupying the polar ends of the emotional spectrum that draws in many. Quite interesting that many of people are intrigued with seeing people at both their best and their worst that brings the ratings. Of course the clear sexuality programmed into these episodes brings in tremendous ratings. (Notice that Fear Factor almost exclusively airs shows with the über-sexy, scantily clad and performing various stunts.) Our American culture is so fascinated with the exploits of others that we are more than happy to tune in and watch what the editors of the various shows deem fit for consumption. One shouldn't forget the famous example of the edited scenes in Joe Millionaire where it was suggested that a sexual encounter had taken place off camera, yet it soon came to light that the editing was done in spite of actual events of an innocent moonlit walk. It is barely mentionable that many of the producers of these shows will stretch the truth to such a degree that these "participants" are not what they appear to be over the airwaves. The High School Reunion classes though mostly attending the same high school were often not even in the same grade when they left that school. Yet the American public is lured into believing that they all are classmates and of the same graduating class. These are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the deception the media will go to in order to produce high ratings. Reality television might be here to stay, Survivor is proof of that legacy. Yet I for one shall not participate in the wars and will leave my fiction spinning to the nightly news with Dan, Tom, or Peter. posted by Preachin Jesus | 4:25 PM | |
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